Episode 1095 - Dan Levy
Marc:all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck nicks what the fuck wads what's happening i'm mark maron this is my podcast wtf welcome to it
Marc:If you sense a slight differentiation in the sound, I got to hammer shit out because I'm back in the garage.
Marc:I'm back in it.
Marc:I'm back.
Marc:I'm here.
Marc:I'm in the new studio after we had all the work done because the city came down on me, man.
Marc:Some of you know the trials and tribulations of a guy who bought a house with a garage that was already set up to record in and then only to find that moments after he bought the house, it was tagged by the city and he had to make it into an apartment.
Marc:I'm sitting in it.
Marc:And it sounds pretty great in here.
Marc:It's pretty cozy.
Marc:I'm very excited about it, actually.
Marc:I have a new lease on Lifes for some reason.
Marc:I don't know why things aren't getting any better in the world, but for some reason, moving into the new place here, the new studio with the new rug, new floors, new door.
Marc:All the walls have sound insulation in them, double-paned windows.
Marc:I got sound curtains on a couple of the...
Marc:Windows, I got my panels that Julian, the kid Julian built.
Marc:He came over.
Marc:I'm going to resolve a little bit of bounce in here.
Marc:But all in all, exciting.
Marc:And also I can make hot tea right here.
Marc:People can go to the bathroom right out here.
Marc:I could cook them fucking dinner in this place.
Marc:And they could shower if necessary.
Marc:So if there are anybody out there, any of you celebrities or people that might be interesting...
Marc:Right.
Marc:Right.
Marc:A lot of options now.
Marc:Great refrigerator.
Marc:It's a whole different ballgame here.
Marc:I got closet space.
Marc:If you want to store some stuff upstairs, you know who I'm talking to.
Marc:I'm talking to you, Albert Brooks.
Marc:If you want to come over and shower and have something to eat and make it yourself, or I'll cook it for you, we can do it all right here in this structure.
Marc:Pretty exciting, isn't it?
Marc:I would like to say this, though.
Marc:I don't do many podcasts, but I did this kid, Rick Glassman.
Marc:I don't know if you know him.
Marc:He's a comedian, young guy.
Marc:He was also on the show Undateable with Dahlia and Funches.
Marc:He asked me to be on his podcast.
Marc:I did not know what to expect.
Marc:Did not know there was a video element.
Marc:Did not know it was goofy and weird.
Marc:I should have assumed as much.
Marc:But I decided to do the podcast.
Marc:It's called Take Your Shoes Off.
Marc:And you can listen to it wherever you get your podcast.
Marc:Or you can watch it on YouTube.
Marc:You can get it through, I think, rickglassman.com.
Marc:But it's a rare opportunity to see me...
Marc:pretty goofy and I had a good time and I did a goofy shit and I liked the kid, but that's as far as I'm going to go.
Marc:I have problems with him, which is one of the reasons I went on his show, but it was fun.
Marc:And I don't say that too often.
Marc:There's something wrong with me.
Marc:Am I going down the, what's, what's going on?
Marc:Is this the beginning of it?
Marc:Also, live shows.
Marc:Dean and I have a very good time on the road with or without you.
Marc:So you can come or you don't have to, but we're going to have pretty good time anyways.
Marc:But Orlando, Florida, I'm at the Hard Rock Live on February 14th, Valentine's Day.
Marc:I will do some love material.
Marc:I will talk about love in a way that'll make you happier with the person you're with.
Marc:Then in the next night, I'll be at Tampa, Florida at the Strass, man.
Marc:We're going to the Strass Center on February 15th.
Marc:Portland, Maine at the State Theater, February 20th.
Marc:Providence, Rhode Island at Columbus Theater, February 21st.
Marc:New Haven, Connecticut at College Street Music Hall, February 22nd and Huntington, New York at the Paramount, February 23rd.
Marc:You can go to WTF pod dot com slash tour for links to all the venues.
Marc:By the way, did I mention Dan Levy is on the show, not Daniel Levy.
Marc:All right.
Marc:It's not the guy from Schitt's Creek.
Marc:It's not Eugene Levy's son.
Marc:This is Daniel Levy.
Marc:His parents are different than them.
Marc:And I like this guy.
Marc:I like this kid.
Marc:Another kid I like.
Marc:I guess I'm at that age where I can say I like this kid.
Marc:Right?
Marc:I can.
Marc:Fuck it.
Marc:I knew Dan Levy when he was a comic.
Marc:Still, he's not much of a comic now.
Marc:But he's the creator and executive producer of the new NBC comedy series, Indebted.
Marc:The series premieres.
Marc:It's tonight it premieres.
Marc:February 6th.
Marc:I'm sorry.
Marc:I don't have that information.
Marc:I didn't ask you for any information.
Marc:Why does it just do that?
Marc:Did I say something that would make Siri want to talk to me?
Marc:What information do you have?
Marc:Hello?
Marc:All right.
Marc:Yeah, tonight his show premieres.
Marc:That's February 6th.
Marc:Yeah, it's tonight, 930, 830 Central.
Marc:So not Daniel Levy.
Marc:It's Dan Levy.
Marc:That's got to be a fucking problem, right?
Marc:Maybe it was insensitive of me to tweet when it was announced that Rush Limbaugh had stage four cancer for me to tweet the human cancer got cancer.
Marc:Maybe it was insensitive.
Marc:It was funny to certain people.
Marc:It was dark and insensitive and cruel.
Marc:Much like Rush Limbaugh.
Marc:Hey, folks, my neck hurts.
Marc:Let's read some emails.
Marc:Can we?
Marc:This one, subject line, finding your roots versus State of the Union.
Marc:Dear Mark, it's February 5th, the morning after the State of the Union, and I wanted to share this with you.
Marc:My wife and I debated whether or not to watch the State of the Union.
Marc:We are not fans of this POTUS and his lies and mistruths.
Marc:make us squirm, but we also felt it the duty as an American to watch the speech.
Marc:And then it hit us.
Marc:Why not watch something else that will inspire us and call to our, as the President Obama would say, better angels?
Marc:So we pulled up your episode of Finding Your Roots.
Marc:We love the series and find the guests' reactions to their history fascinating and compelling.
Marc:Watching the roots of you, Terry Gross and Jeff Goldblum unfold
Marc:made me think what better example of america is there than the complicated story of immigration it is the thread that weaves our national fabric together it is our shared experiences the highs and lows that holds us together despite our often deep-seated differences in ideology which is why the current disparagement of immigrants and refugees is so saddening and disappointing
Marc:Imagine having risked everything to come here, the last land of hope and opportunity only to be shunned and bullied by the current administration.
Marc:Having seen the recaps of the State of the Union address, I feel we made the right choice.
Marc:Enjoy all of your work.
Marc:A fan, Dirk, in Nashville.
Marc:Thanks for reaching out, Dirk, and I think you made the right choice as opposed to watching that professional wrestling-like shit show in the fucking Congress.
Marc:Huh?
Marc:Right there in the Capitol.
Marc:Just the greatest heel of all time.
Marc:Healing it up.
Marc:Man.
Marc:Here's another one.
Marc:Waiting for the punch, my new Bible.
Marc:Hey, Mark and Brendan.
Marc:I've been a listener and fan since I was in high school.
Marc:Your conversations on the podcast and your standup have helped me push through and navigate the fucked up trips that come with being a depressed brown kid in L.A.
Marc:with more addictions.
Marc:And he'd like to admit I'm working on it.
Marc:I got waiting for the punch when it was first released, plowed through it one weekend and put it on a shelf.
Marc:The book has since moved with me from place to place and most recently found a home on my work desk in Austin, Texas.
Marc:Today was a particularly rough day and before leaning into some bad habits, I decided to pick up the book.
Marc:I don't know why.
Marc:I haven't done this since the first read.
Marc:Something compelled me to pick it up and flip to a random page.
Marc:I landed in the addiction chapter on an excerpt from Rob Delaney.
Marc:What a guy.
Marc:In that moment, I was able to get a taste of the warmth and clarity that the podcast consistently offers, a reminder that I'm not alone, a reminder to be kinder to others and myself, a reminder that it's going to be okay.
Marc:I know I'm a little late, but I just wanted to say thank you to you and Brendan.
Marc:The book is incredible.
Marc:I plan to keep using it as a tool for healing the way I assume people use the Bible or those positive affirmations books as I continue on the path to a better, healthier me.
Marc:I think this approach to the book could help others, too.
Marc:So feel free to share.
Marc:Viva Boomer Elmer.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Waiting for the Punch is available in paperback.
Marc:Sometimes I get hardbacks I sell signed.
Marc:But see, it is helpful.
Marc:It helped me.
Marc:Every one of the fucking conversations I've had on this show have helped me in some way, have made me a more empathetic, wiser.
Marc:smarter, happier person.
Marc:And I'm glad that that comes through.
Marc:I'm glad that you guys feel that.
Marc:So this Dan Levy guy, yeah.
Marc:Dan Levy, the guy I talked to today,
Marc:I never disliked him, but he always kind of had this, you know, kind of a precious haircut and, you know, kind of dress kind of alty, emo-y.
Marc:You know, his comedy was okay.
Marc:He was always sort of around in the periphery.
Marc:But I never had anything against him, and I never really knew him that well.
Marc:But I always knew of him, and I always ran into him, and he's always been sort of over there.
Marc:He's younger than me.
Marc:But then I heard he kind of made a show, and I thought to myself, good for that fucking kid.
Marc:I could, you know, it's like these guys who kind of transitioned into writing and made a nice living for themselves, started families like normal fucking people.
Marc:God bless them.
Marc:And I don't even believe in God, but I want God to bless them.
Marc:I'm proud of him.
Marc:I'm happy for these youngsters that get out there and figure out how to have a responsible full life in fucking show business.
Marc:Good for them.
Marc:God damn it.
Marc:And this Levy fella, he's one of them.
Marc:So right now, let us talk to Dan Levy, not Daniel Levy from Schitt's Creek, but Daniel Levy, the creator and executive producer of the new NBC comedy series, Indebted, which premieres tonight, February 6th at 9.30 p.m., 8.30 central.
Marc:This is me and Dan.
Marc:You have an issue with your name.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:It's a problem, buddy.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So you're not Daniel Levy.
Guest:No, I'm not Daniel Levy.
Guest:I'm Dan Levy.
Guest:My dad isn't Eugene Levy.
Guest:My dad is Elliot Levy.
Guest:Totally different.
Guest:Very different.
Guest:Same spelling of the last name.
Guest:Same spelling.
Guest:American.
Guest:I'm American.
Guest:He's Canadian.
Guest:And, yeah, but my dad was not.
Marc:Yeah, he's not Eugene Levy.
Guest:No.
Guest:No, he's not.
Marc:The famous Canadian comedic actor.
Marc:No, he's.
Marc:You're not Daniel Levy, the creator of Schitt's Creek, who acts in the show with his father.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:No, no.
Guest:I am Dan Levy.
Marc:Dan Levy.
Marc:Son of Elliot Levy, who does what?
Guest:I'm a comedian.
Guest:I created Indebted.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:The new show.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But your father does what?
Guest:My father is a traveling salesman.
Guest:So he sells like... He's still a traveling salesman?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He's hoping to retire soon.
Guest:But yeah, he's been in sales his whole life.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So very different.
Marc:Very different people.
Marc:So in order to find out about you, you sort of have to do like Dan Levy.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Comedian.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Dan Levy, comedian.
Marc:Then you can find me.
Marc:Oh, you're Levy.
Marc:I got to remember that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But you're not Levi.
Marc:No.
Marc:Levy is the Canadian Levy's.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And then I guess there was just like some guy named Dan Levy who was nominated for an Oscar.
Guest:He's a composer.
Guest:I was like, all right.
Marc:Not that guy either.
Guest:No, not that guy.
Marc:Well, you got one of those Jewish last names that's been around a while.
Guest:I know.
Guest:I should have been like Dan Rivers or something when I was at Dick Daugherty's Comedy Vault.
Guest:Dick Daugherty, you're insecure.
Guest:That's your problem.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You're another good looking kid who does comedy.
Guest:Keep falling.
Guest:Stop falling.
Guest:That's all I did at Dick Darden's Comedy Vault.
Guest:I would just fall on the stage to the point where I had to go to the hospital because I had a giant bruise that was growing up my arm.
Guest:And I was like, is something wrong with me?
Guest:And they're like, what have you been doing lately?
Guest:And I was like, I do this tequila joke where I fall on the floor and get up and fall again.
Guest:And they're like, stop doing that.
Guest:So wait, how do you?
Marc:It's like the old joke.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Doc, it hurts when I do this.
Marc:Yeah, stop doing it.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:Wait a minute.
Marc:So where'd you grow up?
Guest:I grew up in Stanford, Connecticut.
Guest:But I have memories of you.
Guest:I mean, like I knew you.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:No, my first memory of you was at the Gershwin Hotel.
Guest:Oh my God.
Guest:And it was an open mic.
Guest:When they had that show there.
Guest:Yes, and you were peering in through the window.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yes, because I think you were just dating Misha.
Guest:I think that was like the beginning.
Guest:Misha.
Guest:Oh, right.
Guest:That was the beginning, I think, and I remember seeing you and being like, oh, there's Marc Maron.
Guest:I'm going to go talk to him.
Guest:And I was like, hey, and clearly you were not interested in talking to a 20-year-old comedian.
Guest:And I was laughing.
Guest:I was like, what's going on?
Guest:You're like, nothing.
Guest:The show looks good.
Guest:I was like, yeah, I love your comedy.
Guest:You're like, I'm performing at Caroline's.
Guest:I was like, cool.
Guest:And then you gave me your email.
Guest:You're like, you can come.
Guest:And I was like, all right, cool.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Then I emailed you and then I came and you didn't talk to me afterwards.
Guest:I was like, I guess we're not going to be friends.
Guest:That was the story?
Guest:That was the story.
Marc:Well, you had the Beatles haircut.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like the John Lennon mid-period haircut.
Guest:Right, yeah.
Guest:I went through a lot of- Well, I think in the beginning, my first look in stand-up was this giant, crazy spiked hair.
Guest:Like I had giant spikes.
Guest:And then I went to the smooth.
Guest:Oh, yeah, right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then I think- Then you had that sort of hipster Beatles-y looking thing.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:All terrible.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But so wait, so was Mishnah on the show with you?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So that was the deal?
Marc:That was why I was over there?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I thought you were just like wanting to hang out with some cool comics and I was wrong.
Guest:So that was probably when we were sneaking around.
Guest:Maybe.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Maybe that's what I was.
Guest:Maybe I was just messing up your whole sneaking situation.
Guest:I was like, hey, there's Marc Maron.
Marc:I think that might have been like – because we were kind of on the down low because there was an issue.
Marc:We were both in a relationship with people.
Marc:And I think that was one of those things where she's like – when you're doing the bad thing like that, you're like, well, where can I see you?
Marc:And she's like, well, I'm going to be out of – like any sort of opportunity you had to see each other outside of –
Marc:The relationships you're in, as opposed to just do the right thing and get out of those.
Guest:Yeah, you're like, I'll just go.
Guest:I'll hang out.
Guest:I'll see you at the end.
Marc:I'll say hi.
Marc:No one will say anything.
Marc:And I'm like, there's Marc Maron.
Marc:And you're like, oh, fuck.
Marc:This kid's blowing my cover.
Marc:But yeah, but I remember seeing you around a lot.
Marc:So you grew up in Stanford.
Marc:How many brothers and sisters?
Marc:One brother.
Marc:What's that guy do?
Guest:Does he have a different father named Eugene?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, that's it.
Guest:No, he's actually an agent.
Guest:He's in New York, and he works with comedy and writers in New York.
Guest:Really?
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:What's that guy's name?
Marc:Jonathan Levy.
Guest:Huh.
Guest:Not Levy, Jonathan Levy.
Marc:And your mom, were they married?
Guest:Yeah, they were married, and they were just classic, very Jewish, super Jewish.
Guest:My mom's crazy, obsessed with me sort of thing.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:From the very beginning?
Marc:From the very beginning.
Marc:Always been obsessed with you.
Marc:Yeah, completely.
Marc:And still obsessed with you?
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And your dad's just out selling things?
Guest:Yeah, my dad's just on the road.
Guest:So when I was first doing- Really?
Guest:Yeah, it was a crazy life.
Guest:And when I first started doing the road, the colleges was the first thing I got into.
Guest:I remember my dad was like, let me look at your schedule.
Guest:I'm going to meet you.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah, he would meet me in airports and stuff.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah, oh, yeah.
Guest:What did he sell?
Guest:What does a traveling salesman sell?
Guest:Well, in the height of the career, he was selling the Magic Bullet, which was that blender.
Guest:Come on.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Swear to God.
Guest:So he would- Go to malls?
Guest:He'd go to supermarkets.
Guest:Supermarkets stand there?
Guest:No, not stand there.
Guest:He'd go in the back and be like, you want to buy 7,000?
Marc:Oh, so he's selling to retailers.
Marc:He's not out there-
Guest:doing the demonstration no not demonstration they're not his ideas or else it would have been a different life for me but but yeah so he uh he would do that and then he looked at would look at my schedule when i was like starting touring you know and he's like this is insane you can't go like you can't be in you can't you cannot be in like long island and then go to florida and then go to rhode island like this doesn't make sense i was like that you don't get
Guest:okay this is like paying my dues yeah and then I remember I was in the mall I was paying my dues I remember I was in the mall like in Providence you know on that and the neon entertainment the college agency called me and they're like start screaming at me you know I was like I do not represent your fucking father and I was like what yeah and I was like what happens like your dad just called me and said that I don't know how to book colleges and my and he's gonna send me a fucking map I
Guest:I was like, Dad, what the hell are you doing?
Guest:And he's like, I don't understand what you're doing.
Guest:That guy's an idiot.
Guest:I want to book your shows.
Guest:And I was like, no, this is a nightmare.
Guest:He's going to manage you?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He wanted to be in charge of my schedule.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Which college agent was that?
Guest:That's memorable.
Guest:It was Neon Entertainment.
Guest:I could go to NACA, stand, shake hands, and just do a bunch of colleges.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But your dad stepped in.
Guest:My dad stepped in.
Guest:And then the guy called you and was freaking out.
Guest:Yeah, they did that all the time.
Guest:I remember I wanted- Neon did?
Guest:Yeah, Neon.
Guest:They'd call you and yell at you?
Guest:Yeah, they'd be like, what's going on?
Guest:Why is your dad forwarding me?
Guest:Well, your dad kept doing it.
Guest:Yeah, my dad kept doing it.
Guest:And then I was like, you got to stop because you don't understand.
Guest:This isn't sales.
Guest:This is like comedy.
Guest:It's going to be terrible.
Guest:And I have to drive to Jamestown, New York and bomb and then come back.
Marc:Oh my God.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Hold on, I'm going to finish my smoothie.
Guest:All right, do it.
Guest:Do you drink smoothies?
Marc:Yeah, I like smoothies.
Marc:Do you drink protein powder?
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I go back and forth.
Guest:I just hate making them.
Marc:That's the best part, making them.
Marc:Really?
Marc:You don't like them?
Marc:Do you have a Vitamix?
Guest:No, I have a magic bullet.
Guest:I have an old magic bullet.
Marc:You got to get a Vitamix.
Marc:Yeah, I guess I should.
Guest:You have an old Magic Boy?
Marc:Is it nostalgia for you?
Guest:No.
Guest:Is this what put me through college?
Guest:No, it's just... I don't like cleaning the smoothies, so I just go to a place.
Marc:I just don't know what's in protein powder.
Marc:It seems like it's...
Marc:It's mysterious.
Marc:And if I think about it, I'm like, I get it's vegetarian, it's vegetable protein.
Marc:I believe the label.
Marc:But what do we know about them?
Guest:We don't.
Guest:I'm sure it's bad for everything.
Guest:Everything ends up being like in like two years, like, oh, if anyone ate whey protein, you now have cancer.
Marc:God damn it.
Marc:Oh, God, is that true?
Marc:I hope not.
Marc:I'm not vaping.
Marc:I know that.
Marc:All right, so you're growing up.
Marc:When did you start doing the comedy?
Marc:But let's stay with your father.
Marc:So you had, because I'm curious about that.
Marc:So you had magic bullets at home?
Guest:In the beginning, yeah.
Guest:I mean, there was like periods.
Guest:Like he was, you know, my dad actually wanted to be in show business.
Guest:He came here in like 1978 or something.
Guest:To L.A.?
Guest:To L.A.,
Guest:Elliot Levy came out here in 1978 and was like, I want to be in show business.
Guest:What was his plan?
Guest:He didn't have a plan.
Guest:Acting?
Guest:Singing?
Guest:Like producing.
Guest:Oh, he was going to produce.
Guest:He was going to show up with a suitcase and be like, I'm ready to produce.
Guest:Even though in 1978 it kind of seemed that easy.
Marc:It might have been.
Marc:That was the transition.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then he was here for six months and then my family was like, you got to come back to New York and sell belts.
Guest:What are you doing in LA?
Guest:Sell belts?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Wait, so your grandparents were in the belt business?
Marc:My uncle was.
Marc:Your uncle was in the belt business?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He was in the fashion district?
Marc:Exactly.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Knockoff belts.
Guest:Knockoff belts.
Guest:All that stuff.
Guest:So then he had no choice because he didn't have any money or anything.
Guest:So they moved back.
Marc:So your father was this wayward brother who was sort of like the dreamer?
Marc:Yeah, kind of.
Marc:And your grandfather was in the fashion business?
Marc:Yeah, my uncle was.
Marc:How did your uncle get in?
Marc:Is it your dad's brother?
Guest:No, it's my mom's sister's brother.
Guest:My husband.
Guest:Husband, sorry.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, okay.
Marc:So it's like second, it's once removed.
Marc:Your dad's really like, it was a problem if your mom, his wife, sister's brother, there's concern throughout the family.
Marc:He's got kids.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And he ran to LA.
Guest:No, it was, well, he didn't have kids yet.
Guest:He was about to have a kid.
Guest:In 78.
Guest:How old was he?
Guest:In his 20s?
Guest:Yeah, and I was born in 81.
Guest:So then they came back to Stanford because that's where they lived.
Guest:He took your mother out there?
Guest:Yeah, she met.
Guest:Yeah, for like six months.
Guest:But they met in the East Coast.
Guest:Yeah, they met at sleepaway camp.
Guest:At sleepaway camp?
Guest:Yeah, they've been together since they're 15.
Guest:That's crazy.
Guest:It's insane.
Marc:So your mom's father's in the fashion business?
Marc:No one's in the fashion business but your mom's sister's husband?
Guest:Yeah, was in the knockoff belt business.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:It's very impressive.
Marc:So your dad, he gives up his vague production dream?
Guest:Yeah, and he's like, all right, I guess.
Marc:Does he have any stories from out here?
Guest:I mean, no, I guess they lived on, where did they live?
Guest:They lived off Sunset and La Brea.
Marc:But was he just out of college or something?
Marc:What did he do before that?
Guest:No, nothing.
Guest:This was what he always wanted to do.
Guest:He got married and he's like, I'm going to go to LA, I'm going to do this.
Guest:And he came to LA, he met one guy, this guy Steve, who's like a...
Guest:Second AD.
Guest:That was his connection.
Guest:That was my connection.
Guest:When I moved to LA, he was like, call Steve.
Guest:And I met Steve and he was second AD.
Guest:And he was like, this is very hard.
Guest:And I was like, okay, thanks.
Guest:And that was it.
Guest:Steve.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Did you still talk to him?
Guest:I don't.
Guest:I don't.
Guest:There was one time where I was making a web series for Comedy Central and I called him to help me.
Guest:And my budget was like $3,000.
Guest:And I sent him the script and he's like, I looked it over.
Guest:I'm going to need $300,000 and you're going to need 30 days.
Guest:And I was like, all right, Steve, I'm literally never going to talk to you again.
Guest:So how did your dad know Steve?
Guest:I guess he had a job when he first got here, and he just met him there.
Guest:I forget.
Guest:I don't know what the job was.
Guest:Really?
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:So he didn't come out here completely blind.
Guest:Yeah, he just- He had one job.
Guest:Yeah, one job.
Guest:We don't know what the job was.
Guest:Not what the job was.
Guest:It was in show business.
Guest:It was in show business, yeah.
Guest:and then and then he like you know went back just not not wanting to go back but they went back and then he started working in belts and you know this whole business and in new york in the 80s and then that was good and then like he basically realized that he made a lot of money i think he made okay money in the beginning but your your sister your mother's sister's brother probably made some money huh
Marc:I think so.
Marc:You don't know?
Marc:It seemed like a big time for knockoffs.
Guest:It did, but it didn't seem that way based on everyone's lifestyle, to be honest.
Marc:Growing up, you didn't go over to that guy's house and go like, holy shit.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:No one lived on Long Island?
Guest:No, no one lived on Long Island.
Guest:It was in Connecticut, and it was fine.
Guest:Then I think at one point, my dad was like, I don't want to do this, and then try to get into...
Guest:you know just random connecticut production work and i was like what yeah yeah how old were you i was probably like 12. and he just wanted like he's like is there a film shooting here yeah he basically was like i'm gonna try to like do production and i was 12 and i know he was talking about i was like okay and then that was him just basically not working for a decade and then okay yeah and then uh so is your mom working
Guest:Yeah, my mom was in like education.
Guest:So my mom was, you know, running a- That's vague.
Guest:What?
Guest:She worked for Head Start.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Guest:And then, so she did that pretty much the whole time as my dad sort of figured out that he was mad that he wasn't in LA and he left.
Guest:And then he got it back into sales like later in the 90s.
Marc:So after the decade of production, local production.
Guest:Well, yeah.
Guest:She was just trying to figure it out.
Guest:Like looking back, he was just trying to figure out what to do.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:how's he now now he's good now he's like yeah now he's very chill I mean he always was a huge stoner like my whole life like I remember like going to a concert for the first time and like smelling weed and being like oh daddy like that's what he is so he used to like I think during that time how old is he he's 68 so he's like a bonafide kind of um 10 12 years older than me
Marc:So he's like, you know, like a 60s guy?
Marc:Kind of almost.
Guest:Kind of almost.
Guest:70s maybe?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Or he was just like a stoner?
Guest:Yeah, a stoner and like I think like- Music guy?
Guest:He's not, no, a baseball guy.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:Just loves baseball and loved David Letterman.
Guest:That's like really what I remember.
Guest:He would like read the baseball encyclopedia and then laugh really loud at Letterman and then go to sleep and then go and start his day again.
Guest:That was it.
Guest:He screamed at us constantly when we were younger, and I feel like that was part of his frustration, but now I think he's gotten older, and he's happy, and he's just high, and he's just chilling.
Guest:He umpires on the weekends.
Guest:He loves umpiring.
Guest:What's your mom do?
Guest:My mom's retired now, so my mom just chills and just calls me constantly and tells me about her friends' kids I don't know, and their IVF and all that kind of stuff.
Marc:So this is your life.
Guest:This is my life.
Marc:But it doesn't seem like there was a lot of, like, you didn't, you're not traumatized.
Guest:No, I mean, I'm not, I wouldn't say I'm traumatized, but I think, like, part of probably, like, my drive to, like, succeed and all that kind of stuff probably comes from that time in my life where, like, I look back and, like.
Guest:I don't want to be him.
Guest:Like, yeah, like, what was he, you know, he wasn't, you know, he always says, like, he's, like, he jokes around, but he's, like, I wish I knew you when I moved to L.A., you know, because, like.
Guest:To you.
Guest:To you.
Guest:To me, he wishes that I was his connection because he looks back, he lives vicariously through me.
Guest:So he's a little self-involved?
Guest:Yeah, I think everyone is, right?
Marc:No, I mean they are, but to a degree where he still looks back that there's this weird kind of missed opportunity that things didn't work out for him somehow.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like he talks about, you know, he talks about that as you get older, you think about that.
Guest:But I think like me and like my career has like been so awesome for him, especially the shows like based on my parents.
Guest:So it's like, yeah, this show.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So he gets to like, you know, hang out with Steven Weber and tell him to wear an Abraham Lincoln shirt.
Guest:And like, you know, he likes that.
Guest:So he, they've always been good with that with like early on in my standup, he would like drive me, you know, like back and forth.
Guest:So you didn't go to college?
Guest:I did.
Guest:I went to Emerson.
Marc:Oh, that's right.
Marc:So you're in Stanford, and then you decide you want to pursue show business or entertainment or, yeah, Emerson is a show business school, really, kind of.
Marc:But they had the bread to put you in Emerson, so you must have done all right with the magic bullets.
Guest:Yeah, we got college loans, all that kind of stuff.
Guest:Oh, you did.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:And then I went to- And you went through the full four years in Emerson?
Guest:I did like three and a half, but I did finish.
Guest:But I just got through it just quickly because I was just like dying to get to LA and perform.
Guest:Like I was just so focused.
Guest:Like at Emerson, like all I did was stand up.
Guest:Really?
Marc:That was the dream.
Marc:Why did you choose Emerson?
Marc:You'd heard what?
Marc:I heard that comedians went there.
Marc:David Cross, Dennis Leary.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:Stephen Wright.
Guest:Yeah, Stephen Wright.
Guest:Eddie Brill.
Guest:Eddie Brill, of course.
Guest:Mike Bent, the magician.
Guest:He taught a comedy class.
Guest:Mike Bent.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Mike Bent.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:Leary taught there and Mike Bent is my generation.
Marc:He taught there as well?
Marc:He taught me.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He taught me like a comedy class.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So what are the classes you take in Emerson?
Marc:This is when there was only one Emerson.
Marc:It was down on Beacon or wherever.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Commonwealth.
Marc:Where was it?
Marc:It's down right by the Fenway, kind of.
Guest:Yeah, it was- Not really.
Guest:By the bridge there.
Marc:It was off of Beacon Street, wasn't it?
Guest:That was, yeah.
Guest:When I was there, it was still Beacon, and it was also Boylston and Tremont, and now it's the entire Boylston Street.
Marc:Right, and there's one here, too, I think.
Guest:Yeah, there's one in L.A., yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:So, yeah, so I just went there because I was like, comedy, well, that's where comedy is.
Guest:And I just, and like day one, I went to the open mic, which was the Dick Darry's Comedy Vault.
Guest:I met Dan Mintz, you know, 20 years ago that night, and we became like good friends.
Marc:Oh, I haven't heard his name in a while.
Marc:How's he doing?
Guest:He's doing great.
Guest:You know, he's the voice of Tina and Bob's Burgers, and he... Right, yeah, but what's he doing?
Marc:Like, is he producing something or doing... He writes on my show.
Guest:Oh, he does?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Oh, good, good, yeah.
Guest:And, um, uh, and we just performed that night.
Guest:And then I basically did standup like every, like, I don't know, it was like 14 times a week.
Guest:I was like, open mic comedy studio comedy.
Guest:The comedy connection was still Faneuil Hall.
Guest:And it was just like nonstop.
Guest:I was just, it was, it was insane.
Guest:Compulsive.
Guest:Compulsive.
Guest:I was psychotically obsessed with it.
Marc:So who was your generation there in Boston, though?
Marc:So Mintz, he's not from that area, is he?
Marc:Well, he's from Alaska, but he started at that time, yeah.
Guest:And you're dealing with Dick Dougherty, who I dealt with.
Guest:Yeah, Dick Dougherty, he'd come in the back with his weird hat, and he would just sort of judge you.
Guest:And then Joey was at the Comedy Connection with the Stopwatch.
Guest:I don't know Joey.
Guest:Joey, yeah, I don't know where he is.
Marc:Oliver was the guy at the Comedy Connection.
Guest:I hated him.
Guest:He'd stand there watching if you went, like I remember one time, if you went over your seven minutes, one time I went 716.
Guest:On an open mic.
Guest:On an open mic, yeah.
Guest:It was the Robbie Prince show.
Guest:And he would be like, I was so excited, killed.
Guest:And he'd be like, you fucking went 16 seconds over.
Guest:You're never fucking coming back to this fucking place again.
Guest:It's insane.
Marc:Robbie Prince started when I was there.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He was a kid.
Marc:I think he won a contest or something.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He used to do a song to close.
Marc:Yeah, he did a Trader Joe's joke there, I remember, and didn't get it.
Marc:He did a song to a Billy Joel song, I think.
Marc:He's like, I don't like the boss scene.
Marc:It's full of sleazers.
Marc:You can get diseases.
Guest:Yeah, sounds right.
Guest:And Kevin Knox was there.
Guest:Knoxie.
Guest:Knoxie, yeah.
Guest:He was just...
Guest:Yeah, RIP.
Guest:And Gary Goleman was just like, he was the big guy.
Guest:Like when I got to Boston in 99, he already was like head to LA, did the Tonight Show.
Guest:Goleman?
Guest:Goleman, yeah.
Guest:No kidding.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And Eugene Merman.
Guest:What year was this?
Guest:This was 99.
Marc:So Goleman, because I missed Goleman's rise to whatever.
Marc:I met Goleman fully formed at a different time.
Marc:So he was a guy that, and Eugene Merman, that was a different scene.
Marc:Because that's the one thing you had in Boston was like, you had the comedy studio alt scene later on.
Marc:but then you had the kind of provincial dug-in Boston thing.
Marc:Yeah, Nick's comedy stuff.
Marc:Right, the Noxies and the Mermons don't cross.
Guest:No, but I was so young and I didn't even, I was just so like perform anywhere, so I would just bounce back and forth.
Guest:I'd be like, I'd open up like Adam Ferrara, Comedy Connection, then I'd be like performing on a rug in front of five people like in Harvard Square somewhere.
Marc:Right, so they had that stuff there.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then when did you decide, so you rushed, you stacked your classes so you could get out early?
Guest:Yeah, I rushed.
Guest:Because then I basically, I think when I was 20, I got selected to be in the Aspen Comedy Festival, the funniest college comedian thing.
Guest:And I got flown to Aspen.
Guest:I was like 20.
Guest:And it was like this- From New York?
Guest:From Boston.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, you were still in college.
Guest:I'm still in college.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I went and it was like the first time where it was like, you know, like a real like serious like industry event sort of thing.
Guest:But whose festival was it then?
Marc:Was it still HBO?
Guest:It was HBO, yeah.
Marc:Lou Viola saw me at Comedy Connection.
Marc:Because his daughter went to school in Boston, I think.
Marc:Oh, okay, yeah.
Guest:So he came in.
Marc:So you're scouting around.
Marc:Lou with his long gray hair and beard.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:Fucking Lou Viola.
Marc:What's he up to now?
Marc:I don't know, but I remember just being like, oh my God, it's Lou Viola.
Marc:I know, I remember that.
Marc:I had the same feeling about Lou Viola.
Marc:These people that used to be important.
Guest:I know, then you look back and you're like,
Marc:why the fuck did i was like freaking out freaking out freaking out sweating well they because these people at different moments have power right so he had power over that thing yeah and of course it was reasonable to freak out you wanted to do the thing oh my god but then if you live long enough you're like that's the guy that used to be the thing guy yeah i think he's like a pot farmer now i'm not even joking
Guest:like it's like you care so much about these people and then it's like oh you don't even you're not even around i know i remember that i remember running into him again he was like he's not even in the business or something yeah that that that happens where you like get so stressed out then you meet i remember there was some also like some executive sometime who was like killing me and then i remember finding out he's like oh yeah he works he works in fashion now i'm like he's giving me comedy notes for five years
Guest:He's out.
Marc:He's out.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:That's so true.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:There was always those people.
Marc:I had a fundamental disrespect for the other side of the business that didn't really benefit me.
Guest:I'm aware.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:What are you aware of?
Marc:I just didn't understand that you had to kind of reach across.
Marc:Yeah, I know.
Marc:You know that?
Marc:About me?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You've heard?
Guest:Yeah, I've heard.
Marc:From you on this podcast.
Yeah.
Marc:For years.
Marc:For years and years.
Marc:You've been talking about it for years.
Marc:It's like Adam Carolla and his construction job.
Marc:It happened a long time ago.
Marc:It was clearly life-defining, but you should be over it by now.
Marc:Yeah, but you're not, and that's fine.
Marc:That's what makes it you.
Guest:I'm over it.
Marc:So Lou Viola gets you the gig in Aspen.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then everything changes?
Guest:And I mean, I think everything changes.
Guest:You know, like I go to Aspen, I perform this thing.
Guest:Who else is on it?
Guest:It was a bunch of college comics.
Guest:The only comedian who I, the only person still to stand up is Matt Goldich, who's a funny guy who writes on Seth Meyers' show.
Guest:But that was, it was, you know, we were all like 19, like college kids.
Guest:And none of them are around anymore?
Guest:No.
Guest:uh no no and uh and then uh i won that and then i you won it i won it like i was like i won you know with my disc man like listening to green day getting pumped for the shows and i won that and then i got put on like another show with like like the regular you know because i was a college winner so i got put on like the show with like giraldo and gaffigan and like clearly was not as good as those guys
Guest:But thought I was.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And that's sort of what drove my- Did you do all right on that show though?
Guest:I did okay.
Guest:Yeah, I did okay.
Marc:But I was- In Aspen.
Marc:Because it's hard to perform there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's a terrible place to do comedy.
Marc:Can't breathe.
Marc:Audiences are terrible.
Guest:Yeah, it's not great.
Guest:It's like rich people and executives and you can't breathe.
Guest:Ski people and locals.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it was just this sort of like amazing experience because I was super young.
Guest:It was my first real experience with like show business in a way where like Steve Martin was there.
Guest:And I was walking up to people, the Waynes brothers in Elevator.
Guest:I was like, hey, I'm Dan.
Guest:I just won this festival thing.
Guest:And they're like, I don't give a shit.
Guest:But I was so happy.
Marc:I was the same way where you're like, I'm here, and they're like, what?
Marc:Yeah, no one cares.
Marc:But you realize now when you meet these people and you're working in the business, you're on shows forever, that this is just the job.
Marc:This is their life.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Right?
Marc:And you're like, I did it.
Marc:And they're like, what?
Guest:What did you do?
Guest:You did nothing.
Guest:You're here.
Guest:You took a terrible, scary flight to Aspen.
Marc:He dipped into the weird jet and dropped into the bowl there.
Marc:Yeah, and you're performing in a ballroom.
Marc:Yeah, in a place that's not good for comedy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, you performed in the ballroom, like at that hotel.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:George Lopez introduced me.
Guest:Oh, good.
Guest:Well, there you go.
Guest:That's exciting.
Marc:Yeah, it was a good time.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, he was a nice guy.
Marc:At the hotel, what was that?
Marc:The Jerome.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I went to that a couple of times.
Guest:That must have been near the end of it.
Guest:It was.
Guest:It was because then that was it.
Guest:But then I remember being so upset because I did that.
Guest:And then the next year was Montreal and I couldn't do new faces because technically I was done.
Guest:So I went and just did it.
Guest:And that's where I saw you again for the second time.
Guest:And I didn't see you since the Gershwin.
Guest:I remember being like, hey, Mark.
Guest:And you're like, ah, look at you, you shiny fuck.
Yeah.
Marc:You're always pretty well put together.
Guest:Did I say that?
Guest:Something like that?
Guest:Yeah, something.
Guest:I remember everything that people say to me because I was like, there he goes.
Marc:We're friends.
Marc:Well, I thought that kid's got his shit together and he clearly puts a lot of effort into dressing and whatnot.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like you had a thing going.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I decided that you were like, not part of the problem, but that I was going to, for some reason, just bust your balls.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But I loved it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, because I remember seeing you at different points.
Guest:so in montreal then what happened then montreal and then at that point i had like you know like i had all and so the montreal thing was basically i had like my managers were you like i but i won in aspen come on can i just yeah and it was so it was the manager the manager at oh that was i got i went with brilstein i was brilstein at that point with bernie no no no it was uh which guy it was tim sarkis was my manager sarkis
Guest:that's good that's the david cross john yeah exactly that's pedigree he's still your guy he's not my guy yeah but uh but he's a good guy yeah you know i just was so new sarkis signs you where'd he sign you he signed out of aspen um yeah i can't i did that and then i came for like my first generals in la and i met him then and then he signed me there and uh so the so people were banking on you people were banking doesn't fuck around sarkis doesn't fuck around sarkis wouldn't sign me
Marc:You weren't as shiny.
Marc:No, I definitely was not shiny.
Marc:I was problematic.
Marc:I had to go into Dave Becky's office when he wasn't even a real manager yet.
Marc:He was still working at the improv?
Marc:No, it was after that.
Marc:He was sort of a half a manager at Jimmy Miller's company.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And I knew he managed Tom Rhodes, so I was sort of like, he'll manage you?
Yeah.
Marc:I go in there, I'm like, come on, you manage roads.
Marc:And he sat me down in front of Jimmy Miller.
Marc:Jimmy Miller looked at me and goes, I see a little good and a little bad.
Marc:Oh, wow.
Marc:But we're all friends now.
Marc:It's one of those things.
Marc:It all worked out.
Marc:It worked out okay.
Marc:Some people were bigger than me, make a lot more money, but yeah, I found my way.
Guest:It's in my house, it turns out.
Guest:Look at it, it's so nice.
Guest:I love this place.
Guest:It turns out it's just in my house.
Guest:I gotta move to this neighborhood.
Marc:It's in my garage.
Marc:What neighborhood do you live in?
Marc:You don't have to say, because people probably...
Guest:confuse you with the other damn levy yeah and then go to that neighborhood looking for him and you'll go outside and go like no it's the other guy my dad's elliot for the 25th time so okay so sarkis is he's your guy in montreal he's my guy um but he was so my guy i believe in montreal he didn't come and someone else from the company now that's kind of so okay
Marc:Because I realized, you know, I first.
Marc:So Sarkis was, that's what they, he said, like, yeah, you're the guy.
Marc:And then immediately he's like, hey, take care of this kid, you know, because I haven't got, I got Dave Cross business.
Guest:Yeah, and he's 20.
Guest:John Groff business.
Marc:So who would he put you on?
Guest:Who would he?
Guest:And then there was this guy.
Guest:The other guy was this guy, Jay.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then my friend Brad was also like interning and it was not a good situation.
Guest:So Brad ended up managing you?
Guest:No, he was just the guy I talked to and be like, hey, is it normal that managers don't call their clients back?
Marc:It is, it turns out.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But it's awful.
Guest:It's awful.
Guest:And I remember that year, I just would call him constantly and he wouldn't call me back.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then for Christmas, I gave him a phone.
Guest:And I remember he called me.
Guest:He's like, people are laughing so hard about the phone.
Guest:I was like, that's so funny.
Guest:But honestly, call me back.
Marc:That's what they, they always do that where they, they, they, then they like knowing that you're frustrated and you, you, you break through with something clever and funny and they acknowledge it, but then they go right back to not taking your call.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:It's so funny.
Marc:Take care of yourself and good luck out there.
Marc:So how, how many years was it before you realized, like, I got to find someone who takes my calls?
Guest:Oh, several.
Guest:I think it was probably five years or something.
Guest:I was with Becky for 20 years.
Guest:Oh my God.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was almost, I was almost with three.
Guest:No, I was with three yards.
Guest:I was at three yards like a couple of years ago, but I've been, I've been through, you know, I've been through all the managers.
Guest:I like them all, but now I don't have a manager and it's fine.
Guest:It's fine.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You don't need one.
Guest:I mean, not writing.
Guest:Got a lawyer.
Guest:Yeah, I got a lawyer.
Guest:And an agent.
Guest:I got friends.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I feel like I call people.
Marc:But you're writing, so what are you going to do?
Marc:What am I going to do?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But now, it seems like you should, maybe not.
Marc:You're a showrunner now.
Guest:Yeah, I'm a showrunner.
Guest:I mean, I still go out and perform every once in a while.
Guest:No one cares.
Guest:No one cares.
Guest:No one's filling a theater to be like, oh yeah, let's go check out the showrunner of Vendetted and see what he has to say.
Guest:He has some jokes from 2007.
Guest:But he used to write on the Goldbergs.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I got Goldberg jokes.
Guest:I got all sorts of stuff.
Guest:I didn't mean to be mean.
Marc:But see, that's what you bring out of me.
Marc:Like there's a moment.
Guest:Yeah, there you go.
Marc:Yeah, that's it.
Marc:That's like the old days.
Guest:Yeah, we're back.
Guest:No one cares.
Guest:We're back.
Guest:You're sneaking around.
Guest:I'm blowing your spot.
Marc:You're making fun of me.
Marc:Yeah, it's great.
Marc:But what does happen, because who did I talk to?
Marc:Who was in here?
Marc:Adam?
Marc:Pally.
Marc:Pally, yeah.
Marc:Because he's on the show, right?
Marc:Yeah, he's the show.
Marc:He is the show.
Marc:Yeah, he's on the show.
Marc:Yeah, he's the main guy.
Marc:He's the guy.
Guest:He's playing, not you.
Guest:He's playing a version of me, yeah.
Guest:It's like how they're playing a version of my family, yeah.
Guest:But this didn't really happen.
Guest:Did it really happen?
Guest:Well, I mean, yeah.
Guest:I mean, not exactly what happened, but basically, you know, we talked a little bit about like my parents sort of like, you know, how they've lived their life.
Guest:And then about like a year, yeah, like a year and a half ago, I was talking to them about, you know, long-term healthcare because I have a lot of friends who are sort of like dealing with their folks.
Guest:Dealing with their folks.
Guest:And I was like, so do you guys have that?
Guest:Like, what's your plan?
Guest:And my mom was like, no.
No.
Guest:And I was like, what?
Guest:She's like, we'll come out to California, you know?
Guest:And I was like, what do you mean you'll come out to California?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:She's like, we can hang out.
Guest:You know, we can live here.
Guest:You know, it's fine.
Guest:It's fine.
Guest:You're so great.
Guest:And I was like, mom, no, it's not.
Guest:No.
Guest:Like she's, her whole thing is like, she just thinks I'm so like successful and everything is just, I'm going to take care of everything.
Guest:And I was like, we need to make a plan like that.
Guest:You guys cannot just move in with me and my family.
Guest:Like, because like you're, you,
Marc:you want to come to california new york she's from brooklyn yeah oh so yeah she actually talks like she actually talks like that that's my friend dresser's playing here she actually talks like a brooklyn jewish lady oh yeah totally oh wow yeah so their plan was sort of like he's successful and he's got a place in his house and we'll live there yeah but i don't really that's what that was the thing like it's a it's what there wasn't really like a place so i was like we need to you know sort of sit you down and figure it out so we kind of started like organizing like
Guest:their retirement and their sort of plan.
Guest:And that's when I was like, I should pitch this show because this is insane.
Guest:So are they here?
Guest:No, now they're in Connecticut, but they're getting ready to, you know, they want to move here, but they're not sure because my brother's got a baby in Brooklyn.
Guest:It's a whole thing.
Guest:But you got babies here, right?
Guest:I got babies here, yeah.
Guest:How many babies?
Guest:I got a, not really babies, but I have a five-year-old and a seven-year-old.
Guest:How old are your brother's kids?
Guest:A baby, like three months old.
Marc:Oh, well, yours are going to remember them.
Marc:They should...
Marc:Trust me.
Marc:He should come out here for a few years.
Marc:And then when that kid, the brother's kid, turns into a person.
Marc:And ship him back.
Marc:Yeah, go back there.
Marc:Come on.
Marc:There's the plan.
Marc:I made the plan.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:Go call my mom.
Marc:She'll be happy to talk to you.
Marc:But, all right, so, but after, like, the thing is, is like, this is one of those situations where they ask me, like, do you want to talk to, you know, Dan Levy?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:not levy i'm like yeah i know that guy but like you know when i knew you you're like just this kid with a haircut and then like all of a sudden i'm like what the fuck is he's running he made a show he's running he's one of those guys that figured this out a way to make a living without drag you know wandering around the city well doing the road really what happened was i was on i was like on the road like in 2000 like i remember you were trying you
Guest:Yeah, I was trying hard.
Guest:I was everywhere.
Guest:And I hit a million miles.
Guest:I was, you know, performing wherever I could.
Guest:I was doing the Comedy Central Presents with bangs.
Guest:You know, I was doing all that stuff.
Guest:Bangs, right.
Marc:And a vest.
Marc:I just did a special with a vest.
Marc:Was that a mistake for you?
Marc:A hundred percent, yes.
Marc:I feel like it's going to be a mistake for me too.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:You know what?
Marc:Because I bought the vest and I thought this looks pretty good, but I haven't worn it since I did the special.
Guest:I don't know why I do that.
Guest:I can't ever do any throwback Thursdays because it's completely embarrassing and I'm like, you know what?
Marc:I'm not going to just- But you were like, so we have things in common.
Marc:So you're the guy that bought the thing for the special and never wore it again?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I can't wear it.
Guest:I mean, you should Google Dan Levy Comedy Central Presents.
Guest:I wore a suit.
Guest:I did a special like three years ago, whatever it was, and I wore a nice suit.
Guest:That's a good look.
Guest:But anyways, yeah, I was trying.
Guest:I was on the road.
Guest:I was doing all the things.
Guest:And then I was always writing scripts and stuff, and then it was the year that I wrote a script.
Guest:Oh, jeez.
Guest:Yeah, you see?
Guest:Look at it.
Guest:That's... Dude.
Guest:I'm telling you.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Everything's... Everything's bad in that picture.
Guest:Yeah, just don't even... But you know what's horrible?
Marc:You look a lot like me.
Marc:Yeah, remember?
Marc:People used to say that.
Marc:Yeah, I mean, like, I feel like that must have been why I was like, I like that guy somehow.
Marc:We're connected, because he's like a little version of me.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, but I had hair like that, too, but this was not... And you were pudgy.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I think, well, I wouldn't say I was pudgy, but I mean, I guess I was a little bit- Maybe it was something about the vest and everything.
Guest:No, I mean, I wasn't working out or anything.
Guest:I was just sort of, you know, eating candy.
Marc:But you know, you had sort of this kind of like early alt rock thing going, you know, right?
Guest:Yeah, I don't know.
Guest:I was just sort of grasping at straws, I think.
Guest:I was like, I'll wear this vest.
Guest:I'll take this haircut.
Marc:You know, I always was, you know- Yeah, yeah, like, who am I?
Marc:Maybe this will make it clear.
Yeah.
Guest:And it did not.
Marc:That's a bold look with the tie loose.
Marc:But it's not really a cool vest.
Marc:It looks like from a suit that your dad had or something.
Marc:No, it was fully picked out for the special.
Marc:I know.
Marc:I did that too.
Marc:I have a history of bad haircuts and bad fashion choices.
Guest:Yeah, it's not great.
Guest:Now I feel like that's okay.
Guest:No, you seem to level off.
Guest:Thanks.
Guest:I stopped trying so hard.
Guest:Now I just-
Guest:But after Montreal, so you settled into New York?
Guest:No, after Montreal, I moved to LA.
Marc:Weren't you in New York doing comedy?
Guest:I was.
Guest:It was weird because I was just basically back and forth a lot because my parents were in Stanford.
Guest:So I'd be in Boston, and then I would drive into the city to do spots.
Guest:I got passed at the comic strip.
Guest:Lucian Holds came over.
Guest:I was like, you could be good here.
Guest:So I would drive in and do the check spots.
Marc:He liked you because you weren't angry.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then same with like the cellar.
Guest:Like all those places I just started performing.
Guest:So I just didn't want to give up not being able to perform there.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So I just started driving back and forth.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And didn't tell anybody.
Marc:Didn't tell anybody.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:I can do any spot you want.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Don't sleep.
Marc:What am I doing?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Now I'm in North Haven.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So you did that?
Guest:I did that.
Guest:And then I moved here.
Guest:And then I basically was performing and trying to write.
Guest:I was interested in writing.
Guest:You know, like interested in writing scripts and stuff.
Guest:You were?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you actually did it.
Guest:And I actually did it.
Guest:So you didn't have any drug problems?
Guest:No.
Guest:No, I was... Before I went to Emerson, there was a girl I knew from Connecticut who went to Emerson and immediately got hooked on heroin.
Guest:So I was like completely... In Boston?
Guest:In Boston.
Guest:At that era?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:So I was very... That's ambitious.
Guest:I was very stressed about heroin.
Heroin.
Guest:So when I first went to Emerson, I didn't I was first school I wasn't doing anything and then I slowly began just like smoking pot constantly and then I was that was pretty much high a Lot of the early aughts just constantly high.
Marc:Yeah, and that was pretty much it But I didn't get deep into a heroin scary so but you're able to get the work done that somehow or another Here's the fucking problem and this is was let's get to the resentment issue so
Marc:Like you were able somehow like you were gung ho.
Marc:You were doing the comedy.
Marc:You were doing the road.
Marc:You fucking you know, you were in it to win it and fucking be the comic guy.
Marc:But somehow or another, you knew that you weren't going to be essentially that and that this other option was probably good.
Guest:Yeah, well, I wasn't, I didn't really know, when I first started doing it, I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I was just writing it and I was like, you know, oh, okay, I'll write a show, I'll be in the show, and I'll, you know, that will be my thing.
Marc:Well, that was the goal of everybody, like you want to be the sitcom, the center of a sitcom.
Guest:Right, exactly.
Marc:So you're in LA, you're doing stand-up, are you making, but were you getting, what were you headlining?
Guest:Yeah, I was headlining because I was on a lot of like random MTV bullshit, like in the early 2000s.
Guest:So I was hosting MTV things.
Marc:So I would go and like- Oh, that's why you were annoying.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So, and then I was like super high energy.
Guest:You know, I was everything you didn't want to see.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You're the things that I could have done if I let myself be that pandery.
Marc:And you represented to me some version of me that didn't happen, but I kind of think it should have.
Marc:But instead, I'll resent you.
Marc:Right.
Guest:So here I am at Go Bananas bombing with spiky hair.
Guest:Go bananas.
Guest:Go bananas.
Guest:Where was that place?
Guest:Cincinnati.
Guest:Oh yeah.
Guest:That's right.
Marc:I had a bad night there.
Guest:Yep.
Guest:So did I. One time it went so bad.
Guest:I think one night it was like, I thought I saw, I had the one of those things where I thought I saw the light.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I just got off.
Guest:It was going bad.
Guest:And it was like, thank God I got the light.
Guest:Good night Cincinnati.
Guest:And I walked up stage and the book was like, you did 21 minutes.
Marc:Did you have to go back out?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You got to go.
Guest:I was like, sorry.
Marc:What's up?
Marc:I went there.
Marc:The guy booked me thinking that I was a huge star because of Air America.
Marc:And he paid me.
Marc:He made a deal for a fucking insane amount of money.
Marc:And I sold like 12 tickets.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:And it was just the fucking worst.
Marc:Like at the end of it, I'm like, you don't have to give me all the money.
Marc:He's like, no, I made a deal.
Marc:I'm like, yeah, but you're never going to work me here again.
Marc:I made a deal.
Marc:I'm like, all right, fuck it.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:And you did 23 minutes?
Marc:No, I did the whole time.
Marc:I'll do the time.
Marc:That's one thing I learned.
Marc:You're going to do the fucking time.
Marc:It might be terrible, but I did it.
Marc:You got to.
Marc:Yeah, if anything, I get in trouble for going too long.
Marc:Even if I'm sucking.
Guest:If I'm sucking, I'd go longer.
Guest:I know, you love the in-between.
Guest:You love the in-between the jokes and people just waiting.
Marc:I don't know what it is I like, but I think really if I assess it properly, it's sort of like I don't want them to be able to say that they didn't get their money's worth.
Marc:If I'm terrible, I'm gonna keep trying.
Marc:And it just gets ridiculous.
Marc:And instead of doing an hour, I do an hour and 45, none of it good.
Marc:But they're going to leave going, he tried.
Marc:He tried.
Marc:He was there for three hours.
Guest:We just couldn't get us.
Guest:We held out.
Guest:There was one night in Orlando where I did- I can't go there.
Guest:I don't have a good feeling about it.
Guest:No, it was for Puma.
Guest:And it was like, I don't know if I can say what it was, but they- Was it that bad?
Marc:They still associated with me with it.
Guest:So I went, it was like a fashion show thing that they're like, we're going to have you in the same sort of thing.
Guest:They were paying me like too much money, especially then to do this.
Guest:And I got there and they're like, hey, just so you know, it's going to be like, you know, there's me 10,000 people and you're going to come out after this fashion show and you're going to have to do like a lot of material and, you know, write a lot of golf jokes.
Guest:So I had like a conference call about it.
Guest:Golf jokes.
Marc:Which company sent you on this?
Guest:MTV?
Guest:Yeah, it was an MTV Puma thing.
Guest:And then I get there and they're like, hey, just so you know, there's only like 5,000 people.
Guest:And I'm like, okay, that's fine.
Guest:They're like, you still got the golf jokes?
Guest:I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:And then they put me on a bus.
Guest:I get to the...
Guest:Of course they do.
Guest:I get to the Orlando airport or whatever, and they're like, hey, just, you know, there's like, we're hoping like 1,500 people here now.
Guest:So I'm like, cool, cool.
Guest:I get backstage, and there's all these people just naked putting on Puma-like clothes for the fashion show.
Guest:And then I go, I get right to the rope, right by the curtain, and the stage manager's like, there's 200 people outside, so just have fun.
Guest:And I was like, okay, 10,000 to 200.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I go out stage and I'm like, hello, Orlando.
Guest:And I realized I'm on a catwalk.
Guest:So I put my set list of my like jokes that I wrote about like Tiger Woods or whatever the hell it was on the stool.
Guest:And I walk all the way down the catwalk and I'm like, hey, Orlando, how's it going?
Guest:And it's this fucking dead silence.
Guest:Like no one wants to be there.
Guest:And I was like, I got some jokes.
Guest:And then I realized all my jokes were on the stool.
Guest:So I quickly like slowly head up the runway just walking very quickly.
Guest:And I grabbed the joke and it had some terrible Buick jokes.
Guest:And it was terrible.
Guest:And it was one of those things where I was like, they're not going to pay me.
Guest:And then I got some email on Monday being like, thank you so much.
Guest:We all loved it.
Guest:And I was like, you guys weren't there, but I don't care.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Those are the worst.
Guest:But did they pay you?
Marc:They paid me.
Marc:Those were terrible.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, my God, man.
Marc:I used to do... When I worked for Comedy Central, they would want you to represent the network or whatever, right?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So they'd be like, so-and-so from promotions is going to contact you about this show that maybe you have... They want Comedy Central talent for the advertisers.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you go do those things, and they're never good.
Marc:No.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Guest:It's always bad.
Guest:You always feel bad.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Not great.
Guest:So you're dressed up in Puma.
Guest:Yeah, someone's bombing in a Puma hat.
Marc:But you walk with the money, and then your agents go, like, I heard it went great.
Marc:Like, who'd you fucking talk to?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:There's no way that went great.
Marc:And they don't even give a fuck.
Guest:Oh, I'm, like, drafting an apology email.
Oh, my God.
Marc:and right when the other one comes through good job like oh good yeah thank you so much can't we do it again the worst terrible so all right so you're out here you're you're headlining you're going back and forth you're doing club work but what you don't draw or you do you draw a little bit like you draw people oh oh yeah no no like in your heyday in no mitten at the peak of it in the at the peak of your face or mine yeah
Marc:Was that an MTV show?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I feel like at the peak, I'd go to that, remember that terrible club, Deja Vu Comedy Club?
Guest:Man, where was that?
Guest:It was in the middle of Missouri?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I don't think I did that one.
Guest:Yeah, it was not great.
Guest:And I would go there, and people would show up, and I'd be like, I got a demo.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Those are your people?
Guest:Those are my people.
Guest:You would be put on the road?
Guest:Yeah, put on the road as MTV.
Guest:But it was fine.
Guest:I was still doing lots of colleges.
Guest:I did the College Humor Tour.
Guest:That was where I would do a lot of stuff.
Guest:So you were a successful NACA act?
Guest:Yeah, I was pretty successful.
Guest:So you'd go do the clean show thing, and a bunch of colleges would be like, we want them to come to our school.
Guest:Exactly, and then I'd go and not be clean, and then they'd be upset.
Guest:And I was like, what am I supposed to do?
Guest:I've been doing comedy for like six years.
Guest:You want me to do an hour clean?
Guest:I have to curse a lot, talk about my dick or something.
Guest:Yeah, right, for an hour.
Guest:How am I going to close?
Guest:How am I going to close?
Guest:I have a giant condoms joke that I have to close with.
Guest:Or else it's not going to go well.
Guest:No one is going to know it's over.
Guest:I've been perfecting my tequila fall.
Guest:It's got to happen.
Guest:Dick Daugherty says I got to keep falling.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then it was actually Whitney Cummings because we were both like writing pilots and she was like, hey, if my show gets picked up, would you want to like help me, you know, punch it up?
Guest:Because we always sort of wrote jokes together and stuff.
Guest:Me and Whitney.
Guest:How did you know Whitney?
Guest:Whitney.
Guest:Just from stand-up in L.A., we became friends.
Guest:Are you the same generation, kinda?
Guest:Kinda.
Guest:She started after me, but we just became friends.
Guest:How old are you?
Guest:I'm 38.
Guest:You're around the same age, right?
Guest:Yeah, and we hosted a show together at M-Bar.
Guest:We became really good friends.
Guest:Oh, M-Bar, yeah.
Guest:And then she was like, hey, I'm doing this.
Guest:I have this pilot, Two Book Girls, and I'm doing a show at Whitney.
Guest:If it, uh, if they get picked up, would you want to help me do it?
Guest:And I was like, sure.
Guest:I mean, let me know.
Guest:And then I just, and then the shows got picked up and I worked on her first show, Whitney.
Marc:You picked the wrong one.
Guest:I picked the wrong one.
Guest:That's where she was.
Guest:And, uh, and then, uh, and then I went there and then that was the first time I was ever in a sitcom writer's room ever.
Guest:And I was like, oh, this is a whole, I did not know what this was.
Guest:And I was still like doing random colleges like that first year of being in a sitcom room.
Guest:I was still,
Guest:Yeah, on Winnie.
Guest:I was still traveling, I was doing some stupid Red Bull thing.
Marc:But she didn't know much either, did she?
Marc:She had never really been in a room before, had she?
Guest:No.
Marc:So she wrote this thing and she was learning on the fly as well.
Marc:At least you had a peer in the situation.
Guest:Yeah, at least I knew what she thought was funny.
Guest:I didn't know at all how a sitcom is
Marc:So who was in the room?
Marc:Who was running the show?
Marc:Who was running Whitney?
Guest:Betsy Thomas was running Whitney.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Guest:And it was just really, it was a crazy experience because it was that thing that you hear about.
Guest:You know, it's like every week they'd want to change what the show was about.
Guest:It should be about our friends.
Guest:It should be about our relationship.
Guest:It should, let's have- So there was problems immediately.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Is what you're saying.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was difficult.
Guest:And she was- And it was on the air.
Guest:It was on the air.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:On NBC?
Guest:It was on NBC.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it was like- It was a Delia.
Guest:Was the love interest?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Delia was the love interest.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it was just like this intense sort of- I remember when it was happening.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:There was billboards everywhere and it was like- Yeah.
Marc:Because I think she asked me to play a part of a psychiatrist in one of the episodes and I was like-
Marc:yeah you said no yeah yeah I couldn't do it but I was like I really didn't do any of that kind of work and at the point I was at then because it wasn't that long ago yeah right was it five six years ago no I think it was like it was no it was like nine or ten years ago but I was already in the podcast I was already doing the podcast I remember and I was sort of like do I do I need to do that I don't need to do it
Guest:yeah yeah and then uh was it like one season it was one no two seasons yeah one was one that one season it didn't take didn't take but it was you know it was it was it was it was a really good experience for me just watching it all sort of go down and sort of like you know i went from seeing her friends and just sort of like being there for her and sort of watching like how a sitcom is gets made you know and it was just now you don't speak to her and yeah we are we had a horrible falling out no i still talk to her all the time
Marc:But so you guys went through that together, but you were able to see, you know, sort of the I would say the experience outside of learning how to be in a writer's room or how these things are structured.
Marc:You the more important lesson you realize was.
Marc:Who's in control?
Marc:How things can go wrong?
Marc:What happens when they do go wrong?
Marc:How do you handle it?
Marc:How does your friend Whitney handle it?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And so that was a baptism in fire, really.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And then from there, then Mulaney called me, and he's like, hey, I'm going to be doing- You're going to go through it twice?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:So then he's like, hey, my show got picked up.
Guest:Come help me.
Guest:And then we did that show, and it was sort of like the same thing again.
Marc:But the weird thing about that Mulaney show is almost like he didn't... It was almost like it was happening to him.
Marc:Like it just seemed like it was ill-fitting from the get-go.
Guest:No.
Guest:Well, I think what it was was it was a show on NBC and then there was notes to make it a certain way and then didn't get picked up and then Fox took it and he sort of did a version of what I think he wanted it to be and then we started making it and we were in like a real bubble making the show because it never aired.
Guest:At Fox.
Guest:At Fox.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And it was, you know, he's the funniest person ever.
Guest:It was so much fun, you know, making that show.
Guest:How many ran at NBC?
Guest:No, none, just the pilot.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:And then they picked up 16 episodes at Fox, and then we were just making these episodes, and...
Guest:And we thought- What went wrong?
Guest:Well, I don't, I mean, I just think it just was not like, it wasn't like super clear what the show was.
Guest:I think looking back, you know, it was really funny.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I think it was just, I don't know, people didn't get into it and it was, it just didn't work.
Guest:And then they pulled it from the air.
Guest:But it was again, again, I was like there sort of, I had like a better sense of how these things ran then.
Guest:So I was sort of like more like producing it with them and sort of being like, let's do this, let's do that.
Guest:But it's still, you know, it was so intense.
Guest:And then I was like, oh my God.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because like, was it misunderstood or you guys weren't putting together what you wanted to put together?
Marc:That's what I'm trying to understand.
Marc:Like, was the show that was being presented on Fox, the show that you guys wanted it to be?
Guest:I mean, I, at that time, yes, I think looking back, we probably should have made it differently.
Guest:But in, in that moment, you know, we are making, you know, the problem is I think when you're making a multicam, like my show is like, it's like those, it's like the old, it's an old school format, you know?
Guest:So it's like, you know, you, you, you want to make a show that it's an easy digestible format, you know?
Guest:So whenever you try to do anything that's not that in that format, it gets confusing.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And I think that sort of was the lesson, you know?
Marc:Yeah, because that format is hard to, you know, it is what it is.
Guest:It is what it is.
Guest:So it's hard to sort of be, you know, change it, you know, do anything outside of it.
Marc:Like the most you can do with that format, Seinfeld did.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And they had a lot of money and a lot of sets.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:So if you don't have that, you do what you do.
Marc:yeah and it's also you know there was more more room to like figure things out you know in the early you know in the 90s and stuff too you know it's like I feel like it all comes down to money I mean yeah I guess it's but the truth of the matter is it's it's fucking vaudeville dude you got three sets and you know it's a joke delivery system so figure out how these characters are going to be at least believable as caricatures of whatever they are and then write them jokes exactly that's what on my show I'm always like here's my notes louder faster let's go laughter
Guest:And one time Fran was like, you just keep saying louder faster.
Guest:I'm like, I know that's what I want to be.
Guest:Yeah, that's what it is.
Guest:It's just a Jewish family just talking at each other.
Guest:So let's just do that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Interesting.
Marc:So.
Marc:All right.
Marc:So you then you get after Whitney and Mulaney.
Marc:Now you're like a writer guy.
Marc:Yeah, and then I was in.
Guest:You thought stand-up, really.
Guest:Yeah, so then- Don't need it anymore.
Guest:So, yeah, I stopped performing.
Guest:I definitely stopped going on the road, except I did a special in between then.
Guest:In between what?
Guest:In between that and the Goldbergs.
Marc:In between Mulaney and the Goldbergs.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I forget.
Guest:2016.
Guest:Out of nowhere you did a special?
Guest:You just had to get it out?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I did a CISO special.
Guest:Remember CISO?
Guest:RIP.
Guest:Another terrible decision.
Guest:Whitney said they're giving away money.
Guest:Go, go, go, go, go to CISO.
Guest:Right.
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Basically I got it.
Guest:I, it was something, you know, as a comedian, it's always something I really wanted to do.
Guest:Oh, you wanted to do the hour special.
Guest:I want to do an hour special.
Guest:I've been, I've been, you know, writing jokes, you know, forever.
Guest:I have, I, you know, so then I was like, I want to do this thing.
Guest:And, uh, and then I went on like, you know, a 10 week tour and sort of put the special together.
Guest:And then I like it.
Guest:Um, I do like it.
Guest:I think it was really, uh, but the thing that I remember about CISO is like, it just went away and people are like, do we get our stuff back?
Guest:No, I should have known.
Guest:I had like a conference call with them.
Guest:Like, you know, before it came out and then, and I remember one of the executives was like, sorry, I'm late for the call.
Guest:Just dropped my kids off.
Guest:Uh, Hey Dan, uh, it's crazy.
Guest:You have kids.
Guest:And I'm like, my whole fucking special is about kids.
Guest:This is not going to go well.
Marc:The main guy didn't see it.
Guest:It was already going down the drain.
Guest:I think they were already pulling down the cubicles as our conference call was going on.
Guest:Can you hear that, Dan?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, we're moving.
Guest:We're moving.
Guest:Where?
Guest:Downsizing.
Guest:Oh, did Apple buy you?
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:Who bought you?
Guest:No one.
Guest:We're going to just close everything.
Guest:Okay, can I get my special back?
Guest:No.
Guest:Where will it be?
Guest:Nowhere.
Guest:Got to go.
Guest:Hello?
Guest:Hello?
Guest:Wait, but I asked every comedian to tweet about it, please.
Guest:It's very annoying to text people.
Guest:So it didn't even air?
Marc:No, it aired.
Marc:It totally aired.
Guest:It was on CISO, which is a streaming thing, right?
Guest:Yeah, it was a streaming thing.
Guest:And then it all went away.
Guest:And then it was done.
Guest:And then I was like, well, I'm glad that I went on the road for 11 weeks with a three-month-old baby.
Guest:You got paid for it, though.
Guest:Oh, yeah, I got paid.
Guest:But now with the special, do you- So much money, too.
Guest:CISO was just giving me so much money.
Guest:They didn't give you a lot of money?
Guest:No.
Marc:Do you have a copy of the thing?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, good.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:No, it's good.
Guest:I'll sell it to you in my trunk.
Marc:So eventually you can just throw it up somewhere, no?
Guest:Yeah, I think so.
Guest:On YouTube or whatever?
Guest:Yeah, it's funny.
Marc:Under a different name?
Marc:I don't know how that got up there, but you can go watch it.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:It was so weird.
Guest:Someone pirated the Dan Levy lion seesaw special.
Guest:Someone is a hardcore Dan fan.
Marc:That's crazy.
Guest:Crazy.
Guest:Well, I guess I'll watch it.
Guest:It's live on Facebook.
Marc:Do that.
Guest:It'll only take me 10 years to figure out how to upload it.
Guest:I'm sure it'll be fine.
Marc:So after that, who hires you for the Goldbergs?
Marc:So Adam Goldberg.
Marc:So that's the other tie-in.
Marc:I know the other Adam Goldberg.
Marc:Right, yeah.
Marc:I don't know the other Daniel Levy, but I do know the other Adam Goldberg, and it's the bane of his existence.
Marc:It used to be, not so much anymore.
Marc:And you guys wrote it in to fuck with him.
Marc:I don't think that was nice, but what are you going to do?
Marc:I didn't do it.
Marc:You knew it was happening.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And yeah.
Guest:And then that was.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So then Adam called me and then he was like, my buddy Steve was like, you know, you should bring on Danny's funny.
Guest:He was looking for like, you know, just some funny people to bring on the show.
Guest:How long did you write on the Goldbergs for?
Guest:Uh, three seasons.
Guest:And who's Adam Goldberg?
Guest:Where'd that guy come from?
Guest:He's a writer.
Guest:He was, you know, writing movies and TV shows.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:And then he had the show.
Marc:And so you're working with Jeff Garland a lot.
Guest:Yeah, Jeff Garland all the time.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:And I work with him and then I see him, you know, Jones on Third.
Guest:So I see a lot of Garland in my life.
Marc:The restaurant?
Marc:Yeah, the restaurant.
Marc:There's a restaurant.
Guest:Jones?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:That's still around, Jones?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:CISO bought it, and then- So we don't know what's going to happen.
Marc:We don't know what's going to happen.
Guest:Come to CISO's.
Marc:The restaurant.
Marc:They just have TV screens over the bar running all their specials.
Marc:That's where you can see it.
Guest:You have to go to the bar at CISO's.
Guest:Yeah, that's what's something I would fucking do.
Guest:Someone would be like, hey, the people who own CISO are opening this restaurant.
Guest:You want to invest?
Guest:They love you.
Guest:They loved your special.
Guest:They know it's all about your kids.
Guest:I'm like, okay, yeah.
Guest:That sounds great.
Guest:Can I eat there whenever I want?
Marc:Yeah, they'll have a table for you every time.
Marc:Oh, that's cool.
Marc:Oh, it is cool.
Marc:So you do that for three years and you're like, I'm going to leave.
Marc:I got an idea.
Marc:I'm going to do my own thing.
Guest:yeah well during that time i kept on you know i was trying to get my own thing going so i would like you know pitch shows and you know i wrote a show last the year before that before the show happened i had another show that i wrote that didn't make before the new one yeah so which one what was that called that one was oh my god looks like you've done some acting here and there too hey
Guest:Oh, yeah, I played Fedora Guy.
Guest:I've played Cool Therapist on... On Whitney?
Guest:On Atypical.
Guest:Oh, because I think I was supposed to be the therapist on Whitney.
Guest:Yeah, I was on Atypical.
Marc:Oh, no.
Marc:And Fedora Guy was on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend?
Guest:Yeah, and then I play a comedian on my show.
Guest:I play annoying cousin Dan.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Who's inviting people to his comedy shows.
Guest:Got to write yourself in.
Guest:Yeah, why not?
Guest:So, indebted...
Guest:Yes.
Guest:The one you tried to sell before this was called what?
Guest:The one I tried to sell before this, I think it was this untitled Dan Levy.
Guest:And what was the angle?
Guest:That was based on just me and my wife and our young kids.
Guest:And it was just like a family show.
Guest:And they were like, I've seen this before.
Marc:Yeah, what is this?
Marc:I mean, who are you really?
Marc:It doesn't seem like you're ill-defined.
Marc:And then you said, but I got a vest.
Guest:I got a vest.
Guest:I got a point of view.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And an indebted.
Marc:So we discussed sort of the foundation of this.
Marc:And these are really kind of like your parents.
Marc:And Steven Weber, was he your first choice?
Guest:Yeah, well, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, because they auditioned dad.
Guest:So I knew.
Guest:Yeah, we wanted him.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And he knows how to do these three camera things.
Guest:Oh, he's incredible.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, him and Fran together done like 500 episodes.
Guest:So like talking to them about like being on the Paramount lot in the 90s.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Wings.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he really is like a true like version of like my dad.
Guest:It's pretty great.
Marc:Now, so tell me now that your dad's, his buddy Steve's not working on the show.
Marc:No, he's not.
Guest:He's not involved.
Yeah.
Guest:He's not involved in this project.
Guest:I will say, though, Steve's big thing is with my dad, they sneak onto lots.
Guest:And when we were writing Mulaney, it was obviously a very stressful situation.
Guest:There was one moment in the middle of the day when we're trying to figure out what the hell to do.
Guest:Steve and my dad bust in the writer's room, and Steve is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and holding his camera.
Guest:And he's like, Wizard of Oz was filmed here.
Guest:And everyone's like, who is this guy?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Is he like a psychotic Mulaney stalker?
Guest:And your dad was there too?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:My dad is the king of just finding ways into places and being like, hey, there's no security at this comedy show.
Guest:I'm like, thanks.
Marc:Please take your seats.
Marc:And he's also the guy that called up your college agent to tell me to not...
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:He seems like you tolerate a lot with this guy.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And when I was flying, I used to meet him at airports.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And he just constantly screams at everyone.
Guest:So there was one time, this is kind of an insane story, but he was very big on upgrading.
Guest:That was his big thing.
Guest:He's like, make sure you get there, put your name on a list.
Guest:Is your name on a list?
Guest:Every day.
Guest:He'll be like, is your name on a list?
Guest:Do you have the GoGo Wi-Fi password?
Guest:So he always texts me with my brother.
Guest:In the air, got the GoGo.
Guest:Like, okay, dad, we'll contact you if we need you.
Guest:and and we're um he's like meet me at terminal h we're like in you know chicago together and he's like he's like i'll walk you to the terminal i'll talk to them for you and i was like okay i'm you know 25 i could talk to these people he's like he's like uh levy he's gonna he won't put him on the upgrade he's a he's executive platinum flyer he's so proud of that so i think he was more proud of me at being executive platinum flyer than he is in my own tv show yeah
Guest:A million miles.
Marc:So you're an American?
Marc:Usually, yeah.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:So, all right, so he's proud, multi-platinum.
Guest:Multi-platinum, yeah, yeah.
Guest:So what's the story?
Guest:And I'm like, I want to get it upgraded.
Guest:And they're like, okay, sorry, there's no upgrade list.
Guest:And he's like, he's executive platinum.
Guest:And I was like, yeah, well, sorry, sir.
Guest:And he's like, just so you know.
Guest:he's flying around the country like he's like these people give a shit about me like he's a comedian and uh you know you can put on the upgrade list and they're like sorry sir we we can't and my dad's like i'm looking there is there is a spot they're like sorry we can't and my dad goes you're the reason for 9-11 and then runs away and i'm saying they're being like um i'm sorry uh he's got some issues and uh you could send security but i'm gonna go into hudson and get some sunflower seats
Guest:So he just ran away?
Guest:Just ran away.
Guest:It was the most insane thing that he's ever done.
Guest:And I always talk to him about that.
Guest:And he's always like, yeah, well, that guy, he could have upgraded you.
Guest:Does he have mental problems?
Guest:Is he on medicine or just weed?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:No, no.
Guest:He's, yeah, yeah.
Guest:He's good now.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:You always got along with him, it seems like.
Guest:Yeah, we got along.
Guest:I mean, he screamed at me.
Guest:Most of my childhood was him screaming at me.
Guest:In a real way?
Guest:Yeah, but I would do stupid shit.
Guest:That doesn't sound right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's traumatizing.
Guest:It's very traumatizing.
Guest:He would just be like, Daniel, what the fuck?
Guest:What the fuck did you do?
Guest:But there was things that I did.
Guest:Like when I was eight, I drove his car through the garage.
Guest:Like, you know, shit that, you know, would make you go crazy.
Guest:Right.
Marc:So you kept that up.
Guest:Kept that up.
Guest:Getting kicked out of Hebrew school.
Guest:You know, like all this stuff.
Guest:I did that.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Made the Hebrew school teacher cry.
Marc:I threw stink bombs.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And so you're out as a Jew?
Marc:I'm out.
Guest:I'm out.
Guest:I'm Catholic now.
Marc:But now he's a consultant on the show?
Marc:No.
Marc:He thinks he is.
Guest:I film them after every episode.
Guest:We're going to upload a video of them talking about the story of the episode.
Guest:The real parents?
Guest:My real parents.
Guest:And we film that.
Guest:And that's as far as it goes.
Guest:That's a lot.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He's like, now it's full circle.
Guest:He's made it.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:He's just got to get Steve involved.
Guest:No.
Guest:I saw the last taping they came to.
Guest:I kept telling them.
Guest:I was like, guys, I want you to come to the show.
Guest:I know it's exciting.
Guest:But you can't.
Guest:You can't be here a lot because I'm very stressed.
Guest:I'm spiraling, so I can't have you just in my space.
Guest:And they're like, okay, okay.
Guest:So they come to the last taping.
Guest:During the last scene, I look over, my dad is on the camera op next to this guy.
Guest:I'm like, dad, what are you doing?
Guest:He's like, boomer's cool.
Guest:He's going to email me.
Guest:I'm like, it's a union job.
Guest:I was like, get off the cameras.
Guest:Boom is cool.
Guest:Yeah, boomer's cool.
Guest:Oh, boomer's cool.
Marc:Boomer's cool.
Marc:Uh-huh.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, but that's the- Camera operator.
Guest:Yeah, oh, okay.
Guest:That was his name.
Guest:Oh, that's his name.
Guest:He was sitting next to him, like on a horse.
Guest:Like on the camera saddle.
Guest:Oh, boy.
Guest:So how many episodes you shoot?
Guest:We shot 13.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So they're all loaded up?
Guest:Yeah, I'm still editing them, yeah, but they're ready to go.
Marc:And Adam, like, you guys have a history?
Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, well, I knew him just from- I talked to him.
Marc:He seemed to think you were friends.
Guest:Yeah, no, we're totally friends.
Guest:Never spoke to him the entire time.
Guest:I was like, read these lines.
Guest:No, we were friendly just through comedy.
Guest:In New York?
Guest:No, in LA.
Guest:And then our kids went to preschool together.
Guest:And then we became just like dad friends hanging out.
Guest:And I wrote a movie like five years ago or something.
Guest:And then he read a table read.
Guest:He read like the guy.
Guest:And I was like, this guy's so fucking funny.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he already, I already knew he was so funny.
Guest:So then when it got picked up, I was like, you know, can you do this?
Guest:Are you available?
Guest:For this someone?
Marc:For this thing, yeah.
Marc:What happened to that movie?
Guest:It went nowhere.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It was a movie you wrote.
Guest:A movie I wrote, yeah.
Guest:How many things have you written that are nowhere?
Guest:I wrote the movie.
Guest:I wrote that movie called Plus One.
Guest:And of course this happens to me.
Guest:I wrote this movie called Plus One.
Guest:It was like Yorma, you know, Lonely Island.
Guest:He was going to direct it.
Guest:It was like we did a table read.
Guest:It was the whole thing.
Guest:And then it didn't happen.
Guest:And then like three other movies came out called Plus One.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was like, I love show business.
Guest:And then I wrote Triplets, the sequel to Twins.
Guest:It was with Danny DeVito, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and another guy?
Guest:And Eddie Murphy.
Guest:And I gotta say, you know what, so I had to pitch them to get them into this movie.
Guest:Were you being paid to write this, or this was your idea?
Guest:No, I was getting paid to write.
Guest:Yeah, I was getting paid to write.
Guest:It was like a, you know, we pitched on it, and then we got, you know, Ivan Reitman signed off on the pitch, and then we pitched it to, went to Arnold Schwarzenegger's house, pitched it to him, and that was an insane experience.
Guest:Was he governor?
Guest:He was not governor, but his essence was insane.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah, just like, you know, this is a guy whose, like, voice has been in my head since I don't even, ever.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he is wearing, like, Lululemon, and he looks older, and he's eating chicken.
Guest:He's like, I hear you're so funny.
Guest:I'm like, no way.
Guest:You see my CISO special?
Guest:There's no way you'd know that I'm funny.
Guest:And then we like sit down and he's petting his Labrador retriever as I'm pitching him the movie.
Guest:And I look up and there's an oil painting of him petting the same Labrador retriever.
Guest:And I was like, my life is insane.
Guest:I'm pitching with my buddy, Steve Aslone.
Guest:And then we are like getting to the end.
Guest:And Steve has like the emotional part, emotional part of triplets, but like the part, you know, whatever it was.
Guest:And in the middle of that, like Arnold's really looking at us like, okay, this is good.
Guest:And then a fucking horse walks in the kitchen.
Guest:Oh yeah.
Guest:named whiskey a horse an actual like horse animal and and he stands up he goes whiskey what are you doing you're ruining the pitch and we're like what is what and we're just everyone's like all his other people are just like nodding like okay yeah whiskey's here we're like no no no it's a horse in the house and then he brings it back down then he sits and he's like i'm so sorry you know whiskey and we're like no we don't know whiskey but we'll keep on pitching and then after that um we're working out and ivan's like what interesting guy right and i'm like
Guest:There's a horse at this pitch, guys.
Guest:Is no one going to bring this up?
Guest:Ivan was there with you?
Guest:Yeah, they were all there.
Guest:And then we had to pitch Dane DeVito.
Guest:He's a great guy.
Guest:He's great.
Guest:He was the least interested.
Guest:He was like, why do you want to do this?
Guest:And we're like, I don't know.
Guest:Can we pitch it to you?
Guest:And we pitched him the entire movie.
Guest:And he had a long goatee at the time.
Guest:And he was so funny.
Guest:He was really thinking about it.
Guest:And he looks at my buddy Steve and he goes, could you just tell me one more time?
Guest:And Steve goes, what part?
Guest:He goes, the beginning.
Guest:We're like, the whole fucking pitch.
Guest:And then after that, we've had like nine meetings at this point.
Guest:And then the producer was like, okay, so now you guys need to get Eddie Murphy or else we can't like, you know, green light it or whatever.
Guest:So we're like, I was like, this is amazing.
Guest:And I remember hearing you interview Chris Rock and you asked him what he talked to Eddie Murphy about.
Guest:And he said, comedy, the comic strip, all that stuff.
Guest:So I was like, all right, if I could just get Eddie Murphy to talk about the comic strip.
Guest:Bring up Dennis Wolfberg.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:good exactly yeah so then we're sitting there we're waiting for Arnold okay this is the day we're in Eddie Murphy's house it's incredible I'm like we're like waiting to go in and you know waiting for him and then I see we hear his voice and he just goes
Guest:Oh, the motherfucker's in the house or something like that.
Guest:And we're like, oh my God, it's fucking Eddie Murphy.
Guest:And he brings into this amazing room, super high ceilings.
Guest:And we're waiting for Arnold.
Guest:And he's like, I don't know where Arnold is.
Guest:And we're like, yeah.
Guest:And it's like trying to kill time.
Guest:And then this executive, Allie Bell, actually looks at Eddie Murphy and she goes, you know, Eddie, Dan, Dan just put out a seesaw special.
Guest:Swear to God.
Guest:So, of course, Eddie Murphy, huge seesaw fan.
Guest:Yeah, of course.
Guest:Of course, yeah.
Guest:So he was like, oh, comedian?
Guest:And I was like, yeah.
Guest:And he's like, oh.
Guest:And I was like, yeah, you know, I started the comic strip.
Guest:He's like, the comic strip.
Guest:And it was just like, it was on.
Guest:And it was just like, he was so fucking into it.
Guest:And he started talking about comedy.
Guest:And he was like, you know, he's like, I want to get back out there.
Guest:And then, and this was like, it's a couple of years ago now.
Guest:And I was like, you should do it.
Guest:And he was like, I'm thinking about it.
Guest:He's like, yeah, he's like, you know, there's just so many good specials and comedy is so good right now.
Guest:And he was just being so fucking funny.
Guest:And he was talking about, um,
Guest:you know, just Dennis Wolfberg, he was talking about Lucian, all these people.
Guest:And it was just so awesome.
Guest:And I was like, oh my God, like I broke through, like I'm just talking comedian to comedian.
Guest:And then it was the day, this is what year it was, it was a day that Donald Trump
Guest:attacked arnold uh because he was the new host of the apprentice okay that was that day before he was president no he was president all right so arnold comes in in a cowboy hat he's like i'm so sorry i'm late could you believe the twitter storm and we're like and he's like you know donald's obsessed with me and like i'm i'm here like i think i'm like thinking back to like dick daugherty's comedy i'm thinking about like my entire life and i'm like falling i am in eddie murphy's
Guest:pitching him triplets with arnold schwarzenegger talking about the comic strip and he is mad because the president who is donald trump is attacking him on twitter i was like what is my life and then did you pitch to eddie yeah we pitched it to him and he was laughing and he was like really into it and then he was like look man you guys seem real funny and uh arnold i love arnold i want to move with him so uh you know send me the script
Guest:If it's funny, we'll do it.
Guest:And then it was just that classic, like we wrote the movie a hundred times and then nothing ever sort of came to it.
Guest:But it was a great story.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I got to meet Eddie Murphy.
Guest:And then I saw Chris Rock at the, when he did his last tour, I went and saw him.
Guest:And then in front of me was Eddie Murphy.
Guest:So I was like, should I say something?
Guest:You know, I don't want to say.
Guest:Because it's risk.
Guest:What if he's like, who are you?
Guest:Right.
Guest:So then, but then we got up at the same time.
Guest:We were exiting and I was like, it's right next to him.
Guest:And I was like, Eddie.
Guest:And like three security guards sort of grabbed him.
Guest:grabbed me and i was like it's dan triplets and he's like oh yeah man where's that script and i'm like i don't know great seeing you it was equivalent to me seeing you at the gershwin hotel where's that script as you're being escorted yeah as i'm getting sent to like oh man that's great man yeah good stories so when does uh you know the uh the show go on
Marc:It comes out February 6th.
Marc:I guess we're doing this in conjunction with that.
Guest:Right, yeah.
Guest:This is promoted.
Guest:We're promoting it.
Guest:We're promoting it so much.
Guest:Is it funny?
Guest:It's actually, like, honestly, it's funny.
Guest:Because here's the thing.
Guest:I felt like everyone is funny on the show.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I feel like that's sort of the key to, like, multicam success.
Guest:It's like, it's got, the cast is so good.
Guest:And who's your guy, who's writing it?
Guest:Me and- Who's in the room?
Guest:Who's in the room?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Dan Mintz is there.
Guest:Teresa Mulligan is there.
Guest:Annie Mebane's there.
Guest:Rupinder Gill is there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Stephanie Amante Ritter.
Guest:Gene Cross is there.
Guest:My wife, Rachel, is in the room with Audrey.
Guest:Annie Mebane.
Guest:David Garacio.
Guest:It's a big room.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, a lot of people were consultants.
Guest:I'm sure a lot of people out there are going to be like, you forgot me.
Guest:But-
Guest:I was there on the assistant.
Guest:I was there.
Guest:I'm the writer's assistant.
Guest:I'm there.
Guest:Oh yeah, Joe Feldman, writer's assistant.
Guest:Clay, writer's assistant.
Guest:But yeah, we had a great, it was mostly women.
Guest:And you're running it?
Guest:I'm running it.
Guest:You're the showrunner.
Guest:I'm the showrunner.
Marc:This is the first time you've done that?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's so intense because so many other, all these other jobs, I was just like, you know, I was the good friend of the creator.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Who they trusted and I would like, you know, you know, work with them and, you know, pitch jokes.
Guest:And Whitney.
Guest:Yeah, Whitney.
Guest:And then Mulaney too.
Guest:Mulaney, yeah.
Guest:You know, write jokes with him.
Guest:We'd work all the weekends on him and stuff.
Guest:But when I was in the Goldbergs, it was like, I'd show up and pitch a bunch of jokes and be like, all right, guys, and then write a script and then go home and like, you know, it'd be nighttime and I'd just do my own thing.
Guest:And then...
Guest:Now, as a showrunner, it's like, oh, I have to think about everything always.
Guest:And I'm just not sleeping and losing my mind and kind of realizing why people go crazy.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But you don't have to be the crazy showrunner who makes everyone else crazy.
Guest:No.
Guest:No, I try not to because it's not great.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But if it works, you're fucking set.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, hopefully.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:it's so different now i mean i get if it really works yeah it'd be great yeah but you know it also could be you know i'm also very aware yeah give me like a good season everyone uh they're gonna air one and a half episodes but good news they're gonna stream the season special on peacock okay cool well there's a win yeah gotta be positive yeah i got yeah that's funny it's like that's like the other joke the other doctor's joke is like a
Marc:Hey, everybody.
Marc:Good news.
Marc:It came out great.
Marc:They're going to air one and a half episodes.
Marc:But on bigger news, my seesaw special, my seesaw special is going to be on Peacock.
Marc:We don't know what's going to happen with these things, but it's like the joke with the good news, bad news.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:You go to the doctor's office.
Marc:There's good news and bad news.
Marc:What do you want first?
Marc:The bad news.
Marc:And he's like, you have cancer.
Marc:Well, what's the good news?
Marc:You see that secretary up front?
Marc:I'm fucking her.
Marc:That was the joke I was kind of modeling after.
Marc:Had you heard that before?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Of course, right?
Marc:Yeah, come on.
Marc:For all the jokes.
Marc:All right, well, good.
Marc:So now everything's clear.
Marc:We're okay.
Marc:We're okay.
Marc:Are we good?
Marc:Yeah, we're good.
Marc:Now, do you go to work now?
Guest:What day?
Guest:Yeah, I gotta go.
Guest:Monday?
Guest:It's Monday.
Guest:It's Monday.
Marc:And you go to where?
Marc:At CBS or NBC?
Guest:I go to, in post, I'm just going to Sherman Oaks.
Guest:Let's do some editing.
Guest:I'm just editing now.
Guest:That's it.
Guest:It's done.
Marc:Where was the soundstage at?
Guest:Sony.
Marc:Sony in Culver City.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Stage 28 so far.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:So hopefully everything will work out.
Marc:Say hi to everybody for me.
Marc:I will.
Marc:Thank you, buddy.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:That was fun.
Marc:I got some laughs.
Marc:I enjoyed talking to that fella, that young fella.
Marc:So his show, Indebted, is NBC Tonight's funny comedy series.
Marc:It premieres tonight, February 6th, 9.30, 8.30 Central.
Marc:You can go to wtfpod.com slash tour for venue and ticket information for all my winter tour dates that are coming up, me and Dean.
Marc:Oh, yeah, man.
Marc:All right, I can't play the guitar because I haven't moved that shit down to the new studio.
Marc:I hope it sounds okay.
Marc:It's going to sound a little better when I get some... I'm going to put a little foam on the ceiling.
Marc:Got to get some foam on the ceiling.
Marc:Boomer lives!
Marc:Boomer lives!
you